No-Bake Stocking Cookies

These no-bake stocking cookies are a fun little Christmas treat to add to your cookie making this year!  You can find the full tutorial at Handmade Charlotte.  Merry baking!  (...or no-baking!)

Candy Calico Corn

Ahhh, can you believe this is Thanksgiving week?  If I’m honest, I started listening to Christmas music on November 1^st, but there is so much to be grateful for this year, and sometimes I forget to stop and reflect on all the good things.  I am beyond grateful for strong friendships.  At twenty-four years old, I remember worrying about choosing the right bridesmaids.  I wanted to pick friends who would still be in my life in twenty years, and I’m happy to say that the friends I chose are my closest friends to this day!  I talk to a couple of them almost daily, and treasure them even more today than I did 20+ years ago.  We have walked through many seasons of life together (good & bad), and it feels like I wouldn’t have survived some of them without these ladies by my side.  I didn’t mean for this post to turn into a tribute to girlfriends, but I’m just SO grateful for them, and I hope they know it!  I treasure the new friends I have made along the way as well.  What are you most grateful for this year?

I wanted to share this pastel calico corn I made using candy bracelets for a fun little Thanksgiving DIY for the kids.  They’re so easy to pull together once you have the supplies, that I made five of ‘em while watching a few episodes on Netflix!  I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you are able to take time to relax and reflect.  Here’s a little tutorial for the calico corn!

WHAT YOU NEED:

• Candy Necklaces

• 18 Gauge Wire

• Natural Raffia

• Natural Jute Twine

• Scissors

HOW TO:

Step 1

Cut the candy beads off the necklaces, and place in a bowl. 

Step 2

Cut about a 12 inch piece of wire, and bend in half.  String the candy beads onto the wire, leaving about 1 1/2 inches at the top on each side. 

Step 3

Carefully hold the wire together at the top to keep the beads in place, while wrapping a second wire around the center of the first.  Make the second wire slightly longer than 12 inches, since it will lose length when you wrap it around the first.  Add candy beads to the second wire leaving space at the top again.

Step 4

Repeat the steps with one more wire, until you have six pieces of wire sticking up.  Twist the 6 wire ends together at the top, and fold over to keep any loose ends from poking anyone. 

Step 5

Cut a small bundle of raffia to about 4 1/2 inches long, and use a short piece of hemp string to tie it around the wires at the top of the “corn”.  You may cut the string down if it hangs too much. 

TIP:  Be sure to help younger kids untwist the wires, and release the candy for them. 

Happy crafting and Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Moon Pouch Favors

These moon pouches are a simple, paper plate DIY for a fun Halloween craft, class party, or cute favor, and you could even use these Oh Happy Day plates if you want to skip the painting!  Find the full tutorial here.  Happy Halloween!  

Magical Leprechaun Garden

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I would love to know how you celebrated.  If you have some lucky charms in your pantry, head to Handmade Charlotte for the tutorial on this magical leprechaun garden.  It's edible, and it involves leprechauns, so the kids will LOVE it!  

DIY Shamrock Party Cups

Aren't you in love with the rainbow plates from Oh Happy Day shop?!  I adore them.  For St. Patrick's Day, you can use this giant heart confetti to make shamrocks on party cups, and you'll have the cutest tablescape.  What are your traditions for the 17th?         

DIY St. Patrick's Day Backdrop

Cloud plates from Oh Happy Day shop are "cirrusly" cuuuute!  They make the perfect party backdrop with a rainbow of plastic tablecloth streamers.  How will you be celebrating on March 17th?  

Cloud Plates

Rainbow Plates

Gold Dot Cups

Striped Dinner Napkins

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

PS Just to be completely transparent, if you do shop the links above, there is a chance I would make a small commission.  xo 

DIY Shamrock Piñata

Happy (almost) St. Patrick's Day!  I realized the holiday is coming up quickly, and I have a number of projects to share before the seventeenth.  The tutorial for these shamrock piñatas can be found at Handmade Charlotte.  Enjoy your weekend!  What do you have planned?  We went from 60 to 70 degree weather, to having a few inches of snow on the ground! 

Thumbprint Heart Glasses Valentine

Valentine’s Day is coming up, and it is one of the best holidays for adorable handmade crafts!  I love a good ol’ classic handmade valentine, and these thumbprint heart glasses are easy enough for kids to craft in an afternoon!  Just grab some alphabet stamps, ink pads and cardstock, and you can make the cutest punny valentines for classmates.  Heart glasses are pretty easy to come by this time of year, so these could be cute tags to attach to a little V-day gift.  I found some packs of four at the dollar store, and am starting to see them everywhere!

SUPPLIES:

• Cardstock

• Scissors or paper cutter

• Alphabet stamps

• Ink pads in multiple colors

• Markers

OPTIONAL:

• Hole punch

• Ribbon or string

• Heart glasses

• Cellophane bags

HOW TO:

Step 1

Cut cardstock into 4" x 3" rectangles.  Just left, but close to the center of the card, use your thumb and some ink to stamp two thumbprints angled away from each other, with the bottom of one overlapping the bottom of the other to look like a heart.  Stamp a second heart a little over ¼” from the first.  

Step 2

In multiple alternating colors, use alphabet stamps to write “I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU” with “I ONLY HAVE” at the top of the card, and “EYES FOR YOU” at the bottom. 

Step 3

Use a marker to draw an outline around the heart prints.  Attach them with a curved line at the middle, and create the sides of the glasses with lines angled out from the sides, and ending with a curve. 

Step 4 (OPTIONAL)

You may punch a hole in the side of the card, put some heart glasses in cellophane bags, and attach the card to the bag using fun ribbon or string.  

Now you have the cutest valentines to share with classmates, friends, family and neighbors!  Happy crafting, and Happy Valentine’s Day!!  

Paper Christmas Candy - Oh Happy Day Shop!

Can you believe that Christmas is only a few days away?  We're getting excited around here!  Did you happen to see these honeycomb Christmas candies @ohhappydayshop on Instagram or TikTok?  They are festive as cupcake toppers or napkin holders.  Grab some mini honeycomb balls, attach some mini cupcake liners, and you have the sweetest candy decorations for your holiday parties.  Merry Christmas friends!

Mini Honeycomb Balls,  Napkins - Oh Happy Day

Winter Hat Candy Covers

Hello friends!  It isn’t often that I post to my own blog these days, but my sweet friend Gina invited me to join her 6^th Annual Creative Collective Project – and how could I say no?!  I adore Gina.  She is amazingly creative and talented, but also genuine and so kind.  I am honored to be a part of her creative advent calendar, so let me introduce these mini candy covers for DAY 14!  I dreamed up these little winter hats when I saw a pack of small plastic bowls at the dollar store.  They were just asking for a pom pom, a little paint, and a sweet “knitted” rim.  I wanted to keep the project simple, and use accessible supplies since this is an international collaboration.  I don’t believe the dollar store is international, but I am hoping that everyone (who wants to make the project anyway) can track down some small plastic bowls.  If you are not in the U.S. and find a good source, please share in the comments below.  I know we all have party streamers and paint!

When my mother-in-law hosts holidays, she often places some candy in tiny individual baskets, bowls, or cute containers, and the kids love it!  I thought these hats would be adorable at each place setting this Christmas, with a little candy surprise hiding underneath.  I considered calling them “Covid Covers”, because they would protect the candy from coughs, sneezes, and little hands!  While these are cute for the holidays, the color schemes can be customized to suit any winter gathering – a small one, of course!  They could be placed on a tray for an afternoon of sledding or ice skating, or could cover little piles of marshmallows for hot cocoa!  You could put names on them and use them for place cards.  I already know my son will want to place one on his head, so it could be fun to attach some elastic, and turn them into party hats!  How do you imagine using them?

Before I get on with the tutorial, I would like to invite you to join us, and spread seasonal merriment in a year where these everyday joys really seem to make a difference (perfectly worded by Gina)!  Please follow her Instagram account (@willowdaygram) to see 25 creatives around the world share 25 daily holiday projects.  She is our host, and links to each daily participant so you won’t miss a single one.  She will also share some extras in her stories throughout the month.  It’s never too late to join the fun!

Now, for the tutorial…

WHAT YOU NEED:

• Mini round bowls

• Acrylic paint

• Sponge brush

• Toothpicks

• Streamers

• String

• Scissors

• Fringe scissors (optional, but helpful!)

• Index card

• School glue

• Tacky glue

HOW TO:

Step 1

Use a sponge brush, and acrylic paint color of your choice to paint the inside of your plastic bowl.  Allow to dry, and you may want to do a second, and even third coat of paint for full coverage.  The inside of the bowl may not look smooth, but when you flip it over to create the hat, it looks perfect on the outside!

Step 2

Cut about a 31" piece of streamer.  Fold the bottom 1/3 of the streamer up across the entire length.  Fold the top 1/3 down across the entire length.  Next, fold small segments of the streamer on top of each previous segment.  The best way to describe it would be a “staggered accordion fold”.  Add a dot of school glue under each fold and press down to hold it together.  Allow to dry.

Step 3

Flip the bowl over, and glue the streamer piece around the entire bottom edge using tacky glue.  Cut off any excess, leaving enough to overlap the two ends a tiny bit, and glue down. 

Step 4

Cut an index card to 1 1/2" x 5" and place the ends of several streamer colors together.  Wrap them around the skinny side of the index card about six times – each side of the card counts as one wrap, so only three if you go around both sides! 

Step 5

Use scissors to cut the ends of the streamers once you have wrapped them around the index card.  Hold the streamers in the middle of the card, and cut the “looped” sides on each end, so there are several layers of stacked streamer pieces.  Slide the index card out from the middle. 

Step 6

Loosely tie a string around the middle of the stacked streamer pieces.  They should curl up a bit, but not too much, as seen in the photo.

Step 7

Separate small stacks of the streamer pieces on one side of the string, and use fringe scissors to cut all the way across.  Cut toward the middle, but do not cut all the way to the string.  Fringe every single layer, and then repeat this step on the opposite side of the string. 

Step 8

Fan out the fringe with your fingers, and then shape the piece into a ball.  You may even squish it down a bit.  Use tacky glue to attach it to the top of your bowl hat.  Allow to dry.

Step 9

Use toothpicks to paint small “x” shapes in little rows at the bottom of the hat with acrylic paint, to look like stitches.  Allow to dry.

Your hats are ready to place on the table over small candies, toys, or treats.  Merry Christmas!